The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) launched a new campaign today, “Lower the List Price,” a Beltway advertising campaign demanding drug companies lower the list price of prescription drugs.
“Americans clearly recognize that drug companies are solely responsible for setting and raising drug prices, and using tactics that block competition that would otherwise put downward pressure on drug costs. While this might help boost profits, these pricing decisions have a direct impact on patients and their out-of-pocket costs,” said JC Scott, president and CEO of PCMA. “That’s why we are calling for drug companies to lower the list prices of all pharmaceutical products, to help address access and affordability for patients.”
“The list or ‘sticker’ price set by drug companies is the starting point for all PBM and drug company negotiations. Given one of a PBM’s central roles is to negotiate with drug companies to secure a lower cost for employers and ultimately patients, we view it as a necessity to address drug companies’ ever-escalating list prices so that we can deliver lower cost medications to American patients,” Scott continued. “Specifically, PBMs are asking for Congress and policymakers to put pressure on drug companies to bring down prices on exorbitantly priced drugs, to unlock competition by advancing legislation that prevents gaming of the patent system, and to join our call to action. This is a change that would have a direct, positive impact on rising health care costs and prescription drug affordability for American patients.”
Big Pharma Sets the Price
- Big Pharma sets the price of the prescription drugs — and the price is the problem when it comes to Americans facing difficulty affording their prescription drugs.
- Big drug companies determine the price, decide when to increase the price, block competition to keep the price high, and increase sales by spending billions of dollars each year advertising high-priced products to consumers.
- In 2023, drug companies launched new U.S. drugs at prices 35 percent higher than the previous year.
- Between 2008 and 2021, new drugs launched at prices that increased exponentially, by 20 percent each year.
- Americans overwhelmingly see Big Pharma profits as a major driver of high prescription drug costs — and the impact is both emotional and financial. A KFF poll found that a majority of Americans worry about affording their medications, and one in four adults struggle to pay for the prescriptions they need.
Big Pharma Hikes the Price
- Drug companies raise drug prices frequently, often in January and again in July; Big Pharma increased the price of 556 drugs in just the first week of 2024, with a median increase higher than the rate of inflation.
- A recent analysis found that Big Pharma’s price increases on five top-selling drugs cost U.S. patients and the health care system $815 million in 2023, despite a lack of innovation to justify those price increases.
- Another report from AARP found that Big Pharma “consistently” hiked prices above inflation on 943 top-selling drugs in all but one year between 2006 and 2020.
Big Pharma Blocks Competition to Keep Prices High
- Big Pharma’s anti-competitive practices, like patent abuse, cost U.S. consumers an additional $40.07 billion on drug spending in just one year.
- One of Big Pharma’s anti-competitive tactics is the practice of filing dozens or even hundreds of patents on just one drug to create a patent thicket to keep competition out of the market. This strategy netted $158 billion on just four top-selling biologic drugs between primary patent expiration and biosimilar launch.
- Americans see Big Pharma’s patent games for what they are — 85 percent say it’s important for Congress to crack down on companies that abuse the system to block competition and keep prices high, with more than half calling it “very important.” This frustration cuts across party lines, with 86 percent of Democrats, 81 percent of Republicans, and 75 percent of independents demanding action.
Americans are Getting Ripped Off
- Across brand drugs, pharma list prices are 422 percent higher in the U.S. than in other countries.
- The list price for a pair of autoinjectors for Dupixent, a biologic used to treat COPD, asthma, and eczema among other conditions, is $3,993 in the U.S. — including a 5 percent increase on January 3, 2025, and is more than twice that of France ($1,453).
- The list price for a 30-day supply of Invokana, a drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, is nearly $600 in the U.S., which is nine times higher than in Canada ($64).
- The list price for a 30-day supply of Opsumit, a drug that treats pulmonary arterial hypertension, is nearly $13,000 after a 2.5 percent price increase on January 3, 2025, which is six times higher than in Australia ($1,971).
- Of the 356 drugs approved by the FDA between 2010-2019, 99.4 percent included research funded by the National Institutes of Health.
- Ten of the largest drug companies spent $36 billion, or 37 percent more on selling and marketing expenses than on research and development.
Learn more about the campaign HERE.
